Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Fantasy Focus: Second Base Ranking

Lots of exciting young second basemen coming into the game, some more fantasy relevant than others. These rankings are based on Steamer PROJECTIONS   for SLG% in 2015.

1.  Robinson Cano- .461, 646 PA
2.  Anthony Rendon- .454, 644 PA
3.  Neil Walker- .439, 564 PA
4.  Mookie Betts- .422, 389 PA
5.  Javier Baez- .418, .589 PA
6.  Ian Kinsler- .413, 674 PA
7.  Jose Altuve- .411, 667 PA
8.  Dustin Pedroia- .406, 621 PA
9.  Ben Zobrist- .406, 658 PA
10.  Matt Carpenter- .404, 630 PA
11.  Chase Utley- .403, 611 PA
12.  Jedd Gyorko- .400, 577 PA
13.  Aaron Hill- .398, 633 PA
14.  Howie Kendrick- .397, 551 PA
15.  Marcus Semien- .396, 571 PA
16.  Daniel Murphy- .393, 617 PA
17.  Roughned Odor- .391, 357 PA
18.  Jason Kipnis- .386, 611 PA
19.  Brandon Phillips- .385, 535 PA
20.  Kolton Wong- .383, 517 PA
21.  Brian Dozier- .381, 654 PA
22.  DJ Lemahieu- .371, 529 PA
23.  Joe Panik- .338, 599 PA
24.  Dee Gordon- .335, 587 PA

Comments:

1.  Cano and Rendon are the cream of the crop.  Will cost a lot, but should deliver.

2.  Lots of interest in Mookie Betts.  Not completely clear how the Boston roster will shake out, but unless Betts falls on his face, he should get a lot more than 389 PA's.

3.  Baez projected to hit 27 HR's with double digit SB's.  If you don't mind punting your BA and taking a risk that he could bust, is a great guy to sell out for power with.

4.  Altuve comes with about 35 SB's.

5.  Dee Gordon comes with about 45 SB's.

6.  I sure was impressed by Kolton Wong in the postseason.  I will be mighty tempted to go higher in my own projection.  There are a couple of pretty rabid Cardinals fans in my league.

7.  Steamer is not impressed by Joe Panik and thinks he will regress to a BA of about .255.  That might be a bit harsh, but Panik's game is not fantasy friendly at best.

8.  Dozier was one of just five 20/20 guys last year.  He's projected to go 16/16 in 2015, but the overall SLG% is not impressive.

9.  Steamer does not think Jason Kipnis is going to have much of a bounceback.

6 comments:

  1. I hope you all can please forgive my ignorance... Fantasy sports hold no appeal to me personally, but I'd like to learn/understand a few basic principles here. Again, I (pretty much) know absolutely nothing about ANY fantasy sports. Is SLG one of the more important factors or metrics in most leagues? And I see a few players listed above that I would expect to play other positions. Can one "play" a person at 2B, even if (perhaps) 90%+ of their PA's come while manning another position? Thanks in advance, if any are willing to help me understand this stuff better. Cheers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Players may be eligible to "play" multiple positions if they meet minimum numbers of games played at the position. In most leagues, they hold that position to the end of the following season once they achieve it.

      Standard fantasy league scoring is "5X5" which stands for 5 offensive categories and 5 pitching categories. The standard 5X5 categories are Runs, HR, RBI, BA, SB's, and Wins, K's, ERA, WHIP and Saves.

      Notice there are no defensive categories so an all-encompassing stat line WAR would not be terribly helpful. Also, OBP is of minimal contribution to the 5 offensive categories so stats like OPS and wRC+ and others that rely heavily on OBP are also not the best measure of fantasy value on offense. I have chosen SLG% because HR and BA are heavily represented in the stat and players with a high SLG% would also be expected to produce a lot of Runs and RBI's.

      Delete
    2. Cool, thanks for the info DrB. Got it. I see why Neil Walker could be a nice value, I love his game. Sure, I'd probably go for guys who bat directly BEFORE or AFTER an elite player. Also like if LaRoche hits 4th after Eaton, Melky, and Abreu, huh? Closer like Robertson in a weaker offensive division like the AL Central? SP's in the NL East that will face ATL, NYM, and PHI 19 times each? Try to pile up some wins. Nats pitchers must be in demand, but heck even Cosart might do? Sorry, I'm just rambling and this prolly makes no sense. Interesting to ponder, but I've no doubt I'd suck at it. lol. I'm imagining people drafting Tulo- and what if he's traded to spacious CitiField? Yikes. Well, now I know a little about how to "look at" your fantasy rankings. Thanks again!

      I once played golf with a friend of some friends. I can't recall details (maybe 7 years ago), but he had won the main Yahoo fantasy football contest or something. Maybe a cash prize of $20K? What a trip. Cheers.

      Delete
    3. Oh yes! You have to pay attention to park and team factors in fantasy baseball. In general, I stay away from Rockies and D'Backs pitchers and try to get good pitchers who pitch in pitcher-friendly environments. Likewise, you want batters that come from good lineups and hitter friendly parks.

      Delete
  2. I'm really surprised that Dozier is ranked so low. While he may not reach 20/20, he looks like a really solid player to me. Wonder if age will catch up with Phillips...
    (not a fantasy player, so my opinion may not be worth much.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dozier's BA is relatively low which will hurt him in most fantasy formats. On the other hand, a 15/15 player at 2B may have a lot of fantasy value and he may accumulate solid R and RBI numbers by accumulating a lot of PA's. I would probably rank Dozier's fantasy value higher than his projected SLG%.

      Delete